NEET 2021: Tips to crack test & what you should do during exam

NEET exam is the gateway to most premium medical institutes in the country. It is one of the most competitive exams in India, and students end up preparing years in advance to conquer this exam. This is why the final couple of weeks before the exam is extremely important. It can make or break your chances of admission into your desired college.

Studying for NEET requires planning and perseverance. However, there are some tips and tricks that will help you navigate through your studies better and recall concepts and theories instantly during exams.

Master the difficult concepts

While preparing, mark out the concepts which you personally find difficult in every chapter. Spend more time revising and solving questions based on these concepts. Write down complex formulae and keep reading them over and over again in the last few days.

Create Unique Study Styles

We all study in our own unique ways. Some like to study with graphics, while some try to relate the concepts with real-life situations. Use whichever works the best for you to crack the NEET 2021 exam. Here are some methods that we think work really well.

a) Prepare mnemonics to remember various things like — classification of organisms, scientific names of plants and animals and so on.

e.g. To remember the Krebs cycle (citric acid cycle, tricarboxylic acid cycle);

Citrate – Aconitate – Isocitrate – Oxalosuccinate – a-Ketoglutarate – Succinate – Fumarate – Malate – Oxaloacetate

Make sentences that you can remember easily. Below are two popular sentences used to remember Kerb’s Cycle:

Caesar’s Armies Invaded Other Kingdoms Searching For Many Oranges.

Citric Acid Is One Key Substrate For Mitochondrial Oxidation

B) Create mind maps of the chapter that you have just studied and try to add as many details as possible. This will help you in creating a structure for your studies. Below is an example of diagrams that you can create to make learning easier.

Focus on the NCERT syllabus

The NEET exam is based on the NCERT syllabus. They contain well-researched content and a large number of questions in the exams are asked from these books. Stay well aware of the paper pattern and mark the weightage of each chapter in your textbook to make sure you have covered all important concepts.

Attempt mock tests and previous year question papers

Examiners have been known to keep a standard difficulty level across the years of the NEET exam. Attempting previous year questions will give you an idea of what you can expect in the exam and how well you may do. Mock tests are designed at a slightly higher level. Use these to hone your time management skills during the exam.

Review mistakes and solve your queries

Just attempting mock tests is not enough. You need to go back and see where you went wrong and clarify those concepts, either by consulting reference books, or your professors. This will help you grow and prevent you from making the same mistakes again.

Cut down on pointless distractions

Time management is extremely important in the few days before the exam. Pick up one hobby that de-stresses you and stick to it through these days. This will help you say no to pointless interactions with peers and relatives, or any other forms of entertainment (Movies, Social Media, TV shows, etc.).

Eat healthy and get enough sleep

You do not want to waste years of effort by falling ill on the day of the exam. Ensure that you stick to home-cooked, healthy food. Sleep is also extremely important as it gives your brain time to relax. After a good night’s sleep, you will feel refreshed and will have better performance.

What should you do during the exam?

Attempt your strongest subject first

This has a strategic advantage. By attempting your strongest subject first, you will build confidence in yourself when you get to the more difficult questions. Since you will know that you have done well in a particular section, you will be more calm and patient when the going gets rough.

If you don’t know the answer, don’t attempt it

If you do not know the answer to a particular question, skip it. You will save time by not trying to guess it. Moreover, NEET has negative marking. In case your guessed answer is incorrect, you will lose marks.

Remain calm through the exam

Remain calm and take a deep breath every time you don’t know the answer to a question during the exam. Think of all of your preparation and all of the times you have done well in tests and tell yourself that this is no different.

Follow these tips in the few days before the exam, right up until you walk out of the examination hall. Be confident about your abilities and don’t lose hope.

All the best to all aspirants!

(Author Shivam Solanki is Senior Program Manager at Toppr. Views expressed here are personal.)